. Yes, its a game. I know a lot of the concern about younger players stems from irresponsible use of airsoft/clearsoft/cansoft, but that's as much the communities problem for not helping educate that person. Paintball suffers the same problem.

I don't see this as the death of airsoft, but as a transition much like what paintball went through. Its going to change, that's for sure, but is that really such a bad thing? The elite serious players are going to see their games get smaller and smaller, until they rejoin the mainstream community and bitch about how the old days were better, but hey at least they get out to play still.

Thanks , good post and speaks to the issue.. which is not about the gear or the guns .. but about the players.

The point of this thread was to foster a discussion about some of the issues facing participants today.

From the Field owner game host position.. more players and and inexpensive cost to start bar is a good thing .. more players = more money = better attended games = more money

From the standpoint of the players... due to the lower cost to entry.. many of the new players have less commitment to the community .. or its traditions and standards and regulations.. the demographic of the player population shifts to be Novice heavy ... more players are new and there is more turn over in this population as guns are cheap enough and available enough that people will try out the activity with little desire to really get into it. More seasonsed players find it frustrating to go to games and find 1/3 to 1/2 of players with less than a season experience. Lots are generous with their time.. and will help new players out... but in some cases the volume of new players outstrips the ability of vets to provide that guidance.

the perception becomes.. There are too many NOOBs ... let then go and play by tlhemselves .... and the vets withdraw to enclaves ... new people get selected carefully to make the transition into the old guard.. the best run and organized games go private or semi private.

and the new players are left with little or no guidance... resulting in slipping safety.. poor adhernace to standards .. and an "anything goes" environment.

The point of this thread was to foster a discussion.. and guage the position of the vets and the new player community..

and to make some suggestions as to how this can be addressed.

I know that indoctrination courses work... I've done them for 4 years at TTAC3 and produced a lot of good players out of that environment.

I also know that informal mentoring works.. I've seen lots of great players come out of that process.

But what do we do if there are so many new players that informal mentoring breaks down?

Running New players days is a great idea.. and I see lots of action on that part .. it's a step in the right direction.

What I propose is a "national standard" for the introductory information that new players are required to get before they can participate in open public games. I also propose that new players be REQUIRED to participate in a new player indoctrination event before they can sign up for any public game.

Local field owners/ Hosts would be encouraged to hold regular New player indoctrinations to ensure that the new players in their area are prepared to participate.

This would be a system like the current AV status .. once you have completed the indoctrination course you would be granted access to the games posted threads .. otherwise new players could only access the "intro course threads in their area.

I know that I would have NO Issue with running monthy intro courses in Toronto.

And I suspect that other owners/ hosts would feel the same.

Such a procedure would reduce the number of ill prepared and potentially unsafe players.. it would also flatten out the learning curve for new playes and possibly reduce the intimidation factor of getting involved.

This is a procees already in place in other AS communities .. that works well
I don't see why we can't do it here.